North Korea has asked for two million kilowatts of power per year in energy aid in return for freezing its nuclear weapons program.

Sources at the six-nation talks said Friday that the North made the request on the opening day of the nuclear discussions on Wednesday.

Japan's Kyodo news agency said North Korea's demand is equivalent to 2.7 million tons of fuel oil annually, roughly the energy that two light water reactors could generate in a year. North Korea is believed to consume about 8 million kilowatts annually.

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization agreed in a 1994 accord to construct two light water reactors in the Stalinist state as a reward for the country's pledge to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

Construction work on the reactors was suspended in late 2002 after the North allegedly admitted to U.S. officials that it was working on a uranium-based nuclear arms program. Pyongyang has since publically denied the program's existence.